The present invention relates generally to the marketing of products such as cosmetics, fragrances and toiletries and more particularly to providing small, hygienic discrete disposable samples of a cosmetic product at the point of purchase so that a prospective customer can sample the product in deciding whether to purchase it. The property that the prospective purchaser wishes to evaluate will of course vary depending on the type of product involved, be it cream, nail enamel, powder, fragrance, and so forth.
Present known sampling techniques have numerous disadvantages. For instance, when a container of the product containing a larger quantity then that needed for just one sample is left out on a store counter, it becomes unsightly and possibly unhygienic as successive customers help themselves to samples of the product. Also, over time the product in the container may not necessarily reflect the true characteristics of the product in question. When the product is a nail enamel, in which the shade of color is perhaps the most important characteristic, attempts to reproduce the color on "chips" which are in reality pieces of colored plastic, do not necessarily permit perfect reproduction of the color.
In addition, the sheer number of variations of shade, scent, and other product characteristics now available in today's cosmetic marketplace leads to a proliferation of testers or samplers which can result in an unsightly jumble of containers, or in a display which occupies valuable counter space.
Thus, there is a need for a reliable, economic, esthetic means for providing individual sample doses of cosmetic products at the point of purchase for evaluation by a prospective customer.